Photo by Tim Brown.

When the Nationals became the first baseball team to clinch the playoffs, some fans wondered if Bryce Harper would be healed in time to play, or whether the crew can shake off its postseason habit of imploding.

Others of us have been burning with one question and one question only: will the team shell out the money to keep Metro open for its fans after night games? It’s been a controversial issue each time the Nats have become good enough to make it to the playoffs.

Last year, as the transit agency was in the midst of its Safetrack program, it barred extended hours for events altogether and declined to make exceptions for baseball, despite requests from Mayor Muriel Bowser and Nats ace pitcher Max Scherzer. That led to loud boos for Metro at Nats Park during a riveting Game 5, when fans learned the last train out of Navy Yard would leave during the seventh inning.

But now that the year-long maintenance project is over, Metro implemented a new policy that in many ways mirrors what was in place before SafeTrack: the event organizer pays a deposit for each hour of additional service, and then gets back whatever part of that fee was made back in fares.

One major change is that the deposit switched from $29,500 to $100,000 per hour. Another is that Metro has scaled back service, meaning that riders now have to get to the station half an hour earlier on weeknights if the team doesn’t pay for an extension.

Even back when the hourly fee was less than $30,000, though, the Nats were largely reticent to pony up. In 2012, the team wouldn’t pay for late-night service, a decision that Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans (now the Metro board chair) pinned on Major League Baseball being “quite concerned about a precedent being set in this city.”

In 2014, Metro stayed open late for Nats playoff games thanks to a funding partnership with American University.

This year, the Nationals will face off against the Chicago Cubs in Game 1 of the postseason this Friday right after 7:30 p.m. here in D.C., and so far, no announcement has been made about late-night service, Metro confirmed on Monday morning.

On Fridays and Saturdays, train service ends at 1 a.m. Playoff baseball games last an average of 3 and a half hours.

And extending hours is no easy undertaking. “Keeping the system open is not just a matter of running a few extra trains through Navy Yard,” a Metro spokesperson explained to DCist back in 2012. “You have to keep all 86 stations open and keep trains running on all five lines—serving every station. That’s an employee count in the hundreds.”

So how much advance time does Metro need to accommodate such a request? “While Metro’s policy on extended service does not specify a deadline, each request is evaluated based on planned track work that must be rescheduled,” says Metro spokesperson Richard Jordan over email. “For that reason, Metro encourages event organizers to make their request with as much notice as possible.”

Representatives for The Nationals have not responded to requests for comment on their plans. As WTOP points out, the trickiest game for Metro riders will likely be Game 5, which is scheduled on a Thursday, when the system shutters at 11:30 p.m.

Here’s hoping the team wins it in three and we never have to cross that bridge.